Chapter 118: Drastic Improvement
Asher moved his gaze around the quiet, dimly lit room. He walked towards the grand marble stairs rather than taking the elevator, needing the steady physical movement to ground his racing thoughts. The temporary EX-Rank he entered today had forcefully dilated his energy. It had indirectly boosted all his core abilities and even his fundamental physiques; he needed to know if there were any permanent changes.
He reached his bedroom door after quietly passing his wives’ rooms. Knowing they were all sound asleep, completely exhausted from the night’s tension, he opened his door and walked inside.
"Alright system, I want to see my full profile," he said, walking towards the edge of the king-sized bed and sitting down. The familiar holographic interface hummed to life, casting a cold, ethereal golden glow across the dark room.
[Name: Asher Aetheldawn.]
[Rank: SSS-Rank.]
[Class: [Unknown].]
[Titles [2]: Killer. Dark Elf Fugitive.]
[Species: Advanced Human.]
[Bloodline: Aetheldawn Bloodline: Health gets below 20%, instantly restores health to 100%, and stats increase by 500% for ten minutes. No Cooldown.]
[Physique [2]: Elite Sword Body - Heaven-Tier. Great Shadow-Body - Divine-Tier.]
[Agility: 500,000 (+100,000).]
[Energy: 620,000 (+120,000).]
[Defense: 400,000 (+100,000).]
[Health Point: 720,000 (+120,000).]
[Physical Attack: 500,000 (+100,000).]
[Magical Attack: 500,000 (+100,000).]
[Skills: [Heaven-Tier] - Killing Intent. Sword Of Proficiency. Lightning Domain. Slow Death. Explosion Fire.]
[Skills: [Divine-Tier] - Soul Defense. Judgement Strike. Sword Sovereign. Shadow Force. Flash. Soul Linked. Shadow Merge. Shadow Gaze. Infinite Senses. Game Dice. Shadow Domain. Warrior Knights. Devil Curse Throwing Daggers.]
[Utility Skills: [Divine-Tier] - Cooking Mastery. Gun Mastery.]
[Utility Skills: [Heaven-Tier] - Driving Mastery.]
[Mount: Harpy Eagle.]
[Resistance: +50% Resistance To Elemental.]
’What the hell?!!’
Asher exclaimed inwardly, instantly getting to his feet. His eyes darted across the glowing numbers. True to the theme of resurrection flowing through his bloodline, all skills and physiques below the Divine-Tier had actually jumped one whole Tier up, reborn in the aftermath of the EX-Rank surge.
’I need to check out all my abilities... I can’t miss a single detail.’ He tapped the system screen, starting with his Physiques.
{Heaven-Tier Sword Physique.}
{New ability: When holding a sword, all enemies gain 50% reduction in all stats.}
{Great Shadow Physique: Divine-Tier.}
{New Ability: Can form armors with the shadow, which increases the defense of any creature who puts it on by 1,000,000.}
’What the hell?’ Asher was stunned, staring at the screen in pure disbelief. Even if a target was already wearing heavy armor, he could still create a second, impenetrable layer forged entirely from shadows. If he used this for his summoned knights, wouldn’t it push their base defense well over a million?
’Come on, I want to see my skills.’
{Skill: [Heaven-Tier] - Killing Intent: [New Ability]: Can now form physical objects with your Aura.}
{Skill: [Heaven-Tier] - Sword Of Proficiency: Skill duration increased from 10 minutes to 15 minutes.}
{Skill: [Heaven-Tier] - Lightning Domain: [New Ability]: Now covers a 100-meter radius, and paralyzes struck targets for ten minutes. Cooldown reduced from 10 minutes to 5 minutes.}
{Skill: [Heaven-Tier] - Slow Death: Poison applied to Target per attack increased from 5% to 10% effect. [Note]: Poison can still be cured.}
{Skill: [Heaven-Tier] - Explosion Fire: [New Ability]: Can now create different projectiles with flames, not only fireballs. Cooldown reduced from 10 minutes to 5 minutes.}
’Oh my goodness, with these skills, my strength took a massive leap... If my Heaven-Tier skills got this good from the breakthrough, what about my Divine-Tier?’ he thought, his heart pounding as he turned to his ultimate trump cards.
{Skills: [Divine-Tier] - Warrior Knights: [New Ability]: Summoned Knights increased from 4 to 10, with now 100% of your full stats instead of 50%. Energy needed per use reduced from 10,000 to 8,000 Energy.}
{Note: Knights’ rank increased from S-Rank to SSS-RANK.}
{Note: Once summoned, Knights gain all active Buffs and two skills from Master. Now lasts for 10 minutes.}
{Each Knight gains different skills.}
{Skills: [Divine-Tier] - Flash: [New Ability]: Can now teleport with four extra creatures to any location 500 meters away. No Cooldown.}
Asher sat stunned. He had initially thought all his skills took a new upgrade across the board, but after thinking critically about the system’s previous announcement during the battle, it had only specified skills below Divine-Tier. So Soul Defense, and all his other peak-level defensive abilities, remained exactly as they were. But still, these two current abilities! Flash and Warrior Knights had somehow circumvented the restriction, becoming insanely powerful—especially the Knights, which now functioned as an absolute army of destruction.
Asher snapped his fingers, drawing upon his energy pool. Instantly, the shadows twisted, and a towering Knight appeared before him. It immediately dropped onto one heavy, metal-clad knee, bowing its imposing armored head in absolute submission.
[Name: Asher’s Great Knight.]
[Rank: SSS-Rank.]
[Class: [Unknown].]
[Agility: 500,000.]
[Energy: 620,000.]
[Defense: 400,000.]
[Health Point: 720,000.]
[Physical Attack: 500,000.]
[Magical Attack: 500,000.]
[Skill: Shadow Merge, Judgement Strike.]
’This guy got two incredibly powerful skills... If I activate all my active buffs, then summon it again, these base stats will jump to three million at most... Against this guy, even Grayson, the so-called King of the Underground, won’t be able to defeat it. But compared to Astrid’s monstrous stats, I am still too weak.’
He stretched his hand towards the kneeling Knight and deliberately activated his Shadow Physique’s brand-new ability.
WHOOSH!
Asher watched intently as thick, viscous shadows rose directly from the floorboards and tightly wrapped around the Knight’s existing armor. The next moment, it was clad in a second layer of deep, dark abyssal armor, which absorbed the faint light and almost entirely blended with the darkness in the room.
[Defense: 1,400,000 [+1,000,000].]
’Hahaha! Just thinking of giving all ten knights such impenetrable defense gets me excited,’ he thought, a ruthless smile crossing his face. He snapped his fingers, and the Knight vanished back into the ether.
"Simply put, I now have ten SSS-RANK knights under my absolute command, and with my current energy reserves, I can summon them almost endlessly! Having no cooldown makes me a very dangerous Awakened," he muttered.
Exhaustion finally caught up with his fading adrenaline, and he collapsed heavily backward onto the plush mattress.
"System, about the EX-Rank I temporarily reached... is there any deep information I need to know?" he asked the empty air.
{....}
"Hiding things from me again... alright then." Asher turned his weary gaze toward the bathroom. His muscles ached with the strain of channeling such power. He was simply too tired to take a bath, so he closed his eyes and fell straight asleep, ready to face whatever political storms tomorrow would bring, unaware of the chances his body was undergoing.